ORLANDO, Fla. — Canada and Chile played to a scoreless draw to conclude action in Group A of the 2024 CONMEBOL Copa America on Saturday at INTER&Co Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
Alphonso Davies reached a new milestone by earning his 50th appearance with the Canada senior men’s national team.
Alistair Johnston had a header on goal in the 18’ but was denied by Chilean goalkeeper Gabriel Arias.
Victor Davila had one of Chile’s best attempts in the 21’ but the attempt went wide.
Gabriel Suazo was sent off in the 27’ after receiving a second yellow card as Chile was down to ten players for the remainder of the match.
Canada came close to taking the lead in the 38’ as Jonathan David chipped a shot towards goal, but the attempt went just wide in the end.
Jacob Shaffelburg and Stephen Eustaquio forced back-to-back saves from Arias in the 42’ as the match stayed even into halftime.
Maxime Crepeau made a save in the 74’ to stop a dangerous ball towards goal from Alexis Sanchez.
Tajon Buchanan nearly had the match-winner in the 83’ but was denied by Arias.
Crepeau made his most important save in the 90’+8 with a one-handed grab to maintain the draw and earn his second clean sheet of the tournament.
With four points, Canada finished as the second-place team in the group. The Reds move on to the quarterfinals and will face the winner of Group B on Friday in Arlington, Texas.
FACTS
- Canada is the first debutant team from Concacaf to draw a match 0-0 in the CONMEBOL Copa América against a former champion of the tournament (Chile).
- Maxime Crépeau of Canada was the goalkeeper in Group A with the most saves (14, two more than Chile's Claudio Bravo, who did not play in Saturday's match).
- Canada became the third Concacaf team to advance to the next round in their debut tournament in the CONMEBOL Copa América. Previously, Mexico did so in 1993 (3rd place, Group C) and Honduras in 2001 (2nd place, Group C).
- Canada is the second Concacaf team to advance to the next round with a 44% success rate, surpassed only by Mexico, which achieved it with 33% in 1993. Additionally, Canada is the debutant Concacaf team to advance with 4 points in the 21st century, second only to Honduras' 6 points in 2001.
- The 0-0 draw between Canada and Chile was the seventh for a Concacaf team against CONMEBOL rivals in the Copa América.
- For Chile, it was the sixth consecutive game without losing against a Concacaf team in the Copa América (W-3, D-3) and maintained their unbeaten record against debutant teams in the tournament, having defeated Panama 4-2 in 2016 and drawing 0-0 against Canada.
- It was the 6th game for Concacaf teams that ended in a draw in the history of the CONMEBOL Copa América. Mexico against Argentina in 1993, Honduras against Uruguay in 2001, and Canada in 2024 against Chile achieved draws against CONMEBOL Copa América champion teams.